Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)
Graphics-9 Sound-9.5 Control-9 Challenge-7 Story-8
Level Design-9 Frustration-6 Fun-9 Originality-7
Overall Score-9
+
Lots of moves and equipment (by default: running, stationary and moving jumps (somersaults), diagonal aiming; various beam types, power bombs/smart bombs, charge shot)
Interesting mechanics (bomb jump - M1, speed booster and super jump/tackle (shinespark - five directions), wall jumping, space jump - repeated jumping over and over, health refill using power bombs (must be at below 50 HP), charge shot combos which use up power bombs - different depending on which beam you combine the charge beam with while turning off the others)
Rewards those who learn the less obvious mechanics like bomb jumping with sequence breaking and hidden items
Tells a story without in-game dialogue and characters
Multiple endings (albeit with minor differences)
Great art direction
Planet inhabitants that act like they live in the place instead of simply acting like enemies of Samus
Great intro
Good bosses overall (large and detailed sprites, some with multiple phases)
Memorable locations
Does a great job at opening up piece by piece to the player and giving a natural sense of progression
Save feature (evenly placed save points)
Ammo refill stations
Great map system (mini-map, shows your location and which rooms you've explored in tile format, generally shows where a room continues through a breakable or false wall, marks the location of permanent items - not whether you've collected them or not though)
Tons of hidden items (not necessarily useful though - many ammo tanks)
Better variety than the prequels (backgrounds especially)
Charming neutral creatures (ostrich, wall jumpers, turtle family, robots in shipwreck)
Ninja space pirates
+/-
Some similarities to Sonic (somersault into enemies, pipe elevators, speed boots)
Big focus on collecting (it doesn't become a goal in and of itself until the end game though)
-
Tedious first mid boss (Plant)
Somewhat slow falling speed
Can't set some actions to the exact button you want (like dash on L/R)
Only one save slot per game
Mostly simple enemy AI (except for the pirates)
Can't view a map screen for an area that you are not currently in
Some backgrounds have an 8-bit tiled look to them (compare with Aladdin or EWJ for example)
Backtracking can get tedious
Final boss is a pushover (but still pretty awesome due to the cinematics)
Some nearly useless equipment (spring ball)
No difficulty options/second quest (ranks time and completion percentage though)
Somewhat muffled sounding music
Notes:
-Some (non-glitch) sequence breaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynFoHQ5jr7c, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDdV1hwBonY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0az709pKkj4
Comment:
This is the one that made me love the Metroid games after being more ambivalent about them previously, thanks to various quality of life improvements, improved and evolved controls (8-way aiming! Toggleable equipment! Wall jumps!), a great map system but also all the other things fleshing out the experience in a more subtle and refined way like the environmental storytelling focus and sense of place. Plus the unnecessary but cool things like power bomb healing.
World design and atmosphere are top tier here with a memorable intro, distinct areas that are rewarding to explore, solid visuals that don't distract from the gameplay, interesting touches like the foreshadowing of Maridia, great overall pacing, creatures that seem more like they live in the world rather than being placed there to wait for and fight the player as well as neutral and friendly ones.
There are also some well done sci-fi horror elements in the boss introductions, the crashed ship, the intro leading up to the player being attacked on the planet, and a good sense of vulnerability and solitude throughout most of it with the former being contrasted by the near god form attained in the finale in a cool way.
Player movement, while there have been minor improvements for later games in an action game sense, is still rather flexible and satisfying (especially once you have all the upgrades and know advanced techniques) and gels perfectly with the aforemenetioned sci-fi horror aspect. You are in a super suit that grants you amazing abilities like space jump and shinesparking but this is not earth, gravity and friction are not the same and you are not the most adapted to this environment - the enemies are, as shown in their greater mobility. I've seen complaints about the wall jump but I think they did it just right considering the sequence breaking opporunities it provides; you feel like a champ when you start mastering it and breaking the intended path through the game. With it, bomb jumping, and (the unintended but easy to pull off and less glitchy than an out of bounds trick) mock ball technique you can make the game pretty much fully non-linear, and if you need more replay value there are various well made hacks and randomizer hacks to check out.
Super Metroid is still my fave game in the platform adventure/metroidvania genre, and an all-time classic.
Level Design-9 Frustration-6 Fun-9 Originality-7
Overall Score-9
+
Lots of moves and equipment (by default: running, stationary and moving jumps (somersaults), diagonal aiming; various beam types, power bombs/smart bombs, charge shot)
Interesting mechanics (bomb jump - M1, speed booster and super jump/tackle (shinespark - five directions), wall jumping, space jump - repeated jumping over and over, health refill using power bombs (must be at below 50 HP), charge shot combos which use up power bombs - different depending on which beam you combine the charge beam with while turning off the others)
Rewards those who learn the less obvious mechanics like bomb jumping with sequence breaking and hidden items
Tells a story without in-game dialogue and characters
Multiple endings (albeit with minor differences)
Great art direction
Planet inhabitants that act like they live in the place instead of simply acting like enemies of Samus
Great intro
Good bosses overall (large and detailed sprites, some with multiple phases)
Memorable locations
Does a great job at opening up piece by piece to the player and giving a natural sense of progression
Save feature (evenly placed save points)
Ammo refill stations
Great map system (mini-map, shows your location and which rooms you've explored in tile format, generally shows where a room continues through a breakable or false wall, marks the location of permanent items - not whether you've collected them or not though)
Tons of hidden items (not necessarily useful though - many ammo tanks)
Better variety than the prequels (backgrounds especially)
Charming neutral creatures (ostrich, wall jumpers, turtle family, robots in shipwreck)
Ninja space pirates
+/-
Some similarities to Sonic (somersault into enemies, pipe elevators, speed boots)
Big focus on collecting (it doesn't become a goal in and of itself until the end game though)
-
Tedious first mid boss (Plant)
Somewhat slow falling speed
Can't set some actions to the exact button you want (like dash on L/R)
Only one save slot per game
Mostly simple enemy AI (except for the pirates)
Can't view a map screen for an area that you are not currently in
Some backgrounds have an 8-bit tiled look to them (compare with Aladdin or EWJ for example)
Backtracking can get tedious
Final boss is a pushover (but still pretty awesome due to the cinematics)
Some nearly useless equipment (spring ball)
No difficulty options/second quest (ranks time and completion percentage though)
Somewhat muffled sounding music
Notes:
-Some (non-glitch) sequence breaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynFoHQ5jr7c, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDdV1hwBonY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0az709pKkj4
Comment:
This is the one that made me love the Metroid games after being more ambivalent about them previously, thanks to various quality of life improvements, improved and evolved controls (8-way aiming! Toggleable equipment! Wall jumps!), a great map system but also all the other things fleshing out the experience in a more subtle and refined way like the environmental storytelling focus and sense of place. Plus the unnecessary but cool things like power bomb healing.
World design and atmosphere are top tier here with a memorable intro, distinct areas that are rewarding to explore, solid visuals that don't distract from the gameplay, interesting touches like the foreshadowing of Maridia, great overall pacing, creatures that seem more like they live in the world rather than being placed there to wait for and fight the player as well as neutral and friendly ones.
There are also some well done sci-fi horror elements in the boss introductions, the crashed ship, the intro leading up to the player being attacked on the planet, and a good sense of vulnerability and solitude throughout most of it with the former being contrasted by the near god form attained in the finale in a cool way.
Player movement, while there have been minor improvements for later games in an action game sense, is still rather flexible and satisfying (especially once you have all the upgrades and know advanced techniques) and gels perfectly with the aforemenetioned sci-fi horror aspect. You are in a super suit that grants you amazing abilities like space jump and shinesparking but this is not earth, gravity and friction are not the same and you are not the most adapted to this environment - the enemies are, as shown in their greater mobility. I've seen complaints about the wall jump but I think they did it just right considering the sequence breaking opporunities it provides; you feel like a champ when you start mastering it and breaking the intended path through the game. With it, bomb jumping, and (the unintended but easy to pull off and less glitchy than an out of bounds trick) mock ball technique you can make the game pretty much fully non-linear, and if you need more replay value there are various well made hacks and randomizer hacks to check out.
Super Metroid is still my fave game in the platform adventure/metroidvania genre, and an all-time classic.